Wrap Up

After not doing a fake blog last year I was excited to participate again this year. Although it takes a lot of work to be able to get a page done for each day, I enjoy doing it…but it is a big commitment.

Here are some positive things about my fake blog this year.

·      The topic of flowers and a garden center was easier than the ones I have used in the past for my fake blog. It didn’t take as much research or planning so I didn’t always worry about falling behind.

·      Doing so many blog pages made me more comfortable sketching and painting flowers.

·      The sketches for each page took less time once I figured out what flowers I was going to use.  There were many royalty free images of flowers available for use, as well as many reference photos that I took and sketches that I had already done. I worked from all of them. I would usually gather the references ahead of time and write something out to give me an idea of where my page would go the next day.

Here are the negative things about the fake blog this year.

·      There were days that I was just tired of flowers and couldn’t get enthused about doing a page. However, once I got started on a page the idea would grow and  usually went fairly well. I think that happens sometimes when you push yourself.

·      I was running out of ideas of different things to do at the flower shop. I didn’t want it to be just flowers with no story to it. But just when I thought I couldn’t come up with another idea, something would come to me.

My thoughts about the whole experience.

I just loved seeing the work by the other artists doing fake journals. Previously when I did the fake journal there were very few other artists who were linked on Roz’s blog.  It was amazing to see the work that was created in just a month. The narrations and the sketches were wonderful!! We really rocked this year!!!

Many of the participating artists just amazed me with the results they achieved working through emotional times in their lives, travel that got in the way, and health problems either of their own or family members. I made me realize how important art is to our lives, and how healing it can be. We need it to keep us balanced.

In a way I regret that I didn’t experiment with a new technique. I am a creature of habit and usually do what I’ve done in the past because it worked. Immediately after starting I saw Jan Blencowe’s page that incorportated Gelli plate images, and I regretted not experimenting and using my Gelli plate (that I still haven’t tried). Hopefully next year I will be inspired to step out of my comfort zone and use a different technique.

My thanks to Roz for starting all this and inviting us to participate. It is wonderful to see the number of artists that took part. I would also like to thank everyone for your comments, support, and inspiration. It is so great to be a part of an art community like this!